It is a moral good to seek growing profitability for farmers. It is also an economic good. If the revenues from increasing farm product prices are transferred disproportionately to farm input suppliers, then there is what economists call a “misallocation of resources.” Such misallocations distort the whole economy, by, for example, reducing the amount of money that stays in the local area where the farmer lives. It has been said that monopolistic pricing is the moral equivalent of theft, since in both cases the beneficiary is taking money that is not earned.

By having input prices capture a disproportionate share of farm revenue, economic and social resources are shifted away from choices the farmer would make to choices the input supplier makes. More simply, by creating competitive pricing, more money stays in the farmer’s pocket. That means the local community where the farmer lives is always better off if there are many Farmers of North America Members operating there than if noncompetitive prices are paid and shipped off to shareholders in distant cities around the world. Farmers of North America shifts income from Wall Street to Main Street!